Technical Field
The invention relates to the organization, presentation, and use of information. More particularly, the invention relates to multi-dimensional visualization of temporal information.
Description of the Background Art
The field of information visualization has emerged “from research in human-computer interaction, computer science, graphics, visual design, psychology, and business methods. It is increasingly applied as a critical component in scientific research, digital libraries, data mining, financial data analysis, market studies, manufacturing production control, and drug discovery.” See, Benjamin B. Bederson and Ben Shneiderman (2003); The Craft of Information Visualization: Readings and Reflections, Morgan Kaufmann ISBN 1-55860-915-6.
Information visualization presumes that “visual representations and interaction techniques take advantage of the human eye's broad bandwidth pathway into the mind to allow users to see, explore, and understand large amounts of information at once. Information visualization is focused on the creation of approaches for conveying abstract information in intuitive ways.” See, James J. Thomas and Kristin A. Cook (Ed.) (2005); Illuminating the Path: The R&D Agenda for Visual Analytics, National Visualization and Analytics Center. p. 30.
Information visualization insights are being applied in areas such as, scientific research, digital libraries, data mining, financial data analysis, market studies, manufacturing production control, and crime mapping.
There is a vast and rapidly growing amount of time-based data available on networks, but no simple, standard way of viewing, sharing, and presenting it. State of the art information visualization is relatively unsophisticated in connection with such multi-dimensional, temporal information. Further, state of the art information visualization is relatively static, lacking both the ability to provide real time information transforms and the ability to establish and manipulate multi-dimensional linkages to develop insights into information gathered from multiple domains.